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Thursday, February 22

love and death lay-by

The Coast Road is narrow, full of hairpin bends with craggy mountains stretching upwards and sheer cliffs dropping towards the sea.

There are many lay-bys along the way, ideal places to stop and take photos of the spectacular views. In the evening however, these lay-bys have another purpose. Young couples with nowhere better to go will drive along the coast and park in these lay-bys. They may sit and look at the night time view for a while. When the moon is out, scattering silver ripples across the sea you could hardly find a more romantic view.

But then things get a bit tacky. The couple will cover all the car windows with newspapers, creating their own private capsule. Then, I presume, they lower their seat backs, and get down to a bit of rumpy-pumpy. The windows on the outside of the cars will steam up and if you look closely you can actually see the cars rocking. The funniest thing about this scene though is that once a lay-by is claimed by a car, it is not considered ‘occupied’. Another car or two will often pull up next to the first one, windows will be blocked out and the car will start jiggling up and down.

These lay-by nookie sessions are to be found every night, as the young lovers have nowhere else to go where they can explore each other in private. Seeing as most people live at home until they are married, and even then, often don’t move out, the car is their only option.

A few nights ago a couple from Sorrento got more than they bargained for. They drove along the coast road towards Positano, chose an empty lay-by and parked the car. They got down to business, obviously with eyes only for each other. Suddenly their car was surrounded. Bright lights shone through the windows and they were told to get out the car. Blue flashing lights, sirens, police cars, an ambulance, what was going on?

To their horror the couple realised that they had parked, unknowingly, next to a cadaver. The lifeless body of a presumed North African man was found lying by the railings of the lay-by. A passing car had earlier called the police. The young man had suffered fatal head injuries, repeatedly hit with a blunt object or possibly on the railing itself. The couple had arrived not long after, not noticing what was lying beside their car. They were questioned and then given permission to leave the lay-by, their passion certainly extinguished for a while. The identity of the body is still not known.

Oh and in reply to your comment a while back about my hamster-sitting and your daughter's love of them... my friend Nic said it's probably not the best idea to have a hamster if you own a cat as apparently (I don't have about pets but Nic has owned many hamsters) hamsters are very allergic to cat fleas... so if your cat was unfortunate enough to catch them from somewhere then it would probably harm the poor little hamster. Perhaps if you told your daughter this, maybe (just maybe haha) she will stop asking.